A BACKLASH against Hillingdon Council’s plans to close three day centres for the disabled has gathered pace, with nearly 1,000 residents signing a petition.

A campaign has begun to try to keep them open, despite the authority’s attempts to calm the furore over the closures of Phoenix, Parkview and Woodside activity centres.

Sharon Townsend, the council’s head of disability and mental health services, said in an interview with the Gazette last month: “This is not an isolated plan, this is part of an ongoing process we have been working on for a number of years to modernise services.

“Services evolve, and the use of disabled centres has reduced.”

But before the end of a public consultation period on Friday, the names of about 1,000 parents and carers in the borough who oppose the council’s Disabilities Commissioning Plan 2011-2015 will be submitted.

The plan includes closing the three sites and replacing them with 440 assisted living units and a new resource centre at Queen’s Walk, South Ruislip.

Carers are also being asked to take on responsibility for personal budgets, to decide where funds for the care of their dependents is spent. Fifty have already done so.

Ruislip resident Barbara Tuohy, whose daughter Clare suffers from Rett Syndrome and attends Phoenix Day Centre in South Ruislip five days a week, is one of many who oppose the council plans.

She told the Gazette: “We are all very concerned, the proposals seem to be pretty drastic.

“The new resource unit is just a prefab building at the moment, it is in a very bad location and they will have to spend money to renovate it.

“My daughter is severely disabled and she cannot look after herself. There are some who have always used the day centres, but now the council is saying that they will need to get out into the community.

“Clare is used to the day centre. For her, it is part of her day-to-day life and the staff there are fantastic. If it closes I might have to give up my job to look after her.”

The council has said any money saved from its disabilities plan – £4.5million according to a draft report – would be reinvested in social services.

Numbers attending the day centres reduced from 200 in 2006 to 128 in 2011 and the council has said this demonstrates a shift in the type of services disabled residents need.

Ms Tuohy added: “Hillingdon is currently one of the highest spending London boroughs for disability. They shouldn’t see that as a bad thing.”